


Cubicles

by lucky7girl



Series: The Cubicles Trilogy [1]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 16:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/676707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucky7girl/pseuds/lucky7girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank works at a busy newspaper and Gerard is the editor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cubicles

The alarm clock blared in Frank's right ear, scaring the shit out of him and nearly causing him to fall right off the side of his bed. Monday morning. Ugh. It had been a long weekend for Frank and he wasn't looking forward to going to work today, but he loved his job as a copy editor at one of the better weekly publications in the city. He had worked long hours and had taken on projects everyone had opted not to take to get where he was. And Frank hated being late. He stumbled out of bed, slowly, reaching for the half-empty bottle of Coke on his night stand. It would be enough caffeine to get him through his morning routine until he could get to Starbucks for his favorite morning poison. 

Too tired to rummage through his closet again, Frank decided to put on the clothes he wore last Friday. After all, who notices what three piece suit you wear every day, anyway, Frank thought to himself. He tossed his white dress shirt in the dryer with a wet rag and turned the heat on max. That ought to be enough to get rid of the wrinkles. He eased into his trousers as he hurriedly ate a blueberry bagel and put on his shoes before going to the dryer to retrieve his shirt. One glance in the mirror and Frank decided he was ready for the day. He ran his hand quickly through his long, dark hair, which he never really combed anyway and he was out the door to start this Monday morning.

 

There was a slight chill in the air and it quickly reminded Frank how much he wanted a hot cup of coffee. He just hoped the traffic wouldn't be too bad. Frank hated to be late. He also didn't want to disappoint his boss, Gerard, who had been very good to him over the past few years. Frank opened his car door and tossed his coat into the passenger seat, plopped down on the driver’s side, and turned the key over in the ignition.

 

A truck raced by nearly taking Frank’s door with it as he gave the driver the finger before slamming the door shut and easing out into the line of cars on his busy street. A quick run through the drive thru at McDonalds was all he had time for but the coffee was good and just the right temperature to warm him up and give him a slight caffeine buzz.  
8:55. He had five minutes to park and get to his desk. Plenty of time. Frank thought as he veered into his usual parking spot. Gerard's Trans Am was in the next parking stall. Figures Frank thought. He always beat him to work, the bastard. Frank smiled. He really liked Gerard. He was very intelligent but very good to his staff. He had worked his way up to senior editor in just a few years. He really had a talent for finding interesting stories for their section of the newspaper and his writing skills were definitely first rate. 

He was very demanding of his staff though, his deadlines were their lifelines. But he was also very understanding and easy to talk to. Plus he had great hair. Frank smiled at that last thought and threw open his car door and raced for the entrance. The wind threatened to take the door right off the hinges and luckily Bob was there on the other side to catch it.

 

"Thanks, Bryar," Frank said, nodding at his favorite coworker. Frank sauntered down the hallway, tossing his empty coffee cup in a trash can near the restrooms. He reached his office and sat down to turn on his computer and read the days memos and assignments. Two pages. Frank sighed and hit the print button. He didn't feel like reading them all on the screen. But that meant a trip down to the printer to pick them up. Frank didn't care. He was hyper anyway and welcomed the chance to get out and about in the office. Maybe he'd go harass Ray in mail room a little bit. He still owed him money from that poker game last Friday night and since Ray had been promoted to supervisor Frank knew he had it.

 

Frank almost overshot the copy room thinking about how he smoked Ray’s ass in that poker game.

 

Frank opened the door to the copy room and grabbed the paper off the printer. Expecting to see the day’s memos he started to read when he realized, this was no memo. 

** Cubicles  **

Frank was intrigued. 

__ It's the tearing sound of love notes  
Drowning out the grey stained windows  
And the view outside is sterile  
And I'm only two cubes down 

Wow. Who writes this stuff? Frank thought they were the most beautiful words he'd ever read. 

__ I'd photocopy all the things that we could be  
If you took the time to notice me  
But you can't now, I don't blame you  
And it's not your fault that no one ever does 

Frank thought he might cry. 

_ But you don’t work here anymore  
It's just a vacant 3 x 4 _

Frank stood there with his jaw agape unaware that he was not alone in the copy room. He felt the paper being grabbed out of his hand before he saw the man standing behind him. He turned around to see Gerard staring at him; a shocked look on his face that Frank could not easily read. 

"Is that..." Frank started. "Was that yours?" he cleared his throat, not certain if he should be embarrassed or how he should feel. 

"Um, yeah," Gerard said, looking down at his shoe, his long dark hair falling over his face. 

"That’s beautiful, man," Frank smiled and patted him gently on the arm. 

"Um, thanks," Gerard said finally looking up to face Frank. "I, uh, wrote it last night," he started. 

"Yeah," Gerard said, scratching the side of his head with his left hand. "Thing is, I don't play guitar real good. So I got this song. But no melody. Ya know?"

"Oh yeah, yeah," Frank said nodding. "Hey listen, man, I play guitar. I mean I used to play in a punk band in college so, like, I was wondering if, like, I don't know. Maybe I could take a copy of it and work up some rifts for it. Man, that's just too good not to have an awesome sound behind it. Ya know?" Frank was worried that he might have embarrassed his boss.

 

Gerard thought a minute and rubbed his eye.

 

"Um, yeah. I mean, why not?" he said. Gerard took the paper and ran it through the copy machine and handed the warm copy to Frank, who folded it in quarters and shoved it down into his pants pocket.

 

"So, okay. Cool," Frank said nervously. He was excited to get the song home and work up some chords. He already had a melody in his head that would go prefect with the words and he knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his work today. But he had to focus. He had a deadline in two days and his story about the fire in the old textile factory downtown was coming together quite nicely. He even thought he might have a good human interest story about the ghosts that supposedly haunted the place. The day seemed to drag on, but Frank finally looked at the clock and realized it was almost 5:00. Finally. He could get home and work on that song. He dug the copy out of his pocket and read it again. 

__ So I'll spend my time with strangers  
A condition and it's terminal  
In this water cooler romance  
And it's coming to a close 

Frank was getting shivers reading. 

He grabbed his coat and hurried out the door of his office almost knocking Brian, the proofreader, onto his ass in the process.

 

"Sorry, man," Frank breathed as he ran out the main door and out to his car. Gerard was just opening up the door to his Trans Am. 

"Gonna go home and get started on that song now, Frank said, shooting a smile toward Gerard.

 

"Sweet," Gerard said, smiling back nervously. He paused a moment as if to say something and then turned back around and tossed his briefcase into the back of his car. He waved to Frank and got in, turned to make sure there was no one behind him and peeled out of his parking place.

 

Frank stared at the car as it drove out of the parking lot, a thrill of excitement rushed through him that he quite didn’t understand, nor did he want to think much of at the time. Frank turned to get into his own car. 

Frank flipped through the channels on the radio but couldn't find anything good to listen to so he dug out his Nirvana _In Utero_ cd and shoved it into the cd player and turned it up on full blast.

 

Finally he pulled into his driveway. Home.

 

Finally. Frank ate his usual TV dinner and went straight to work, getting out his guitar and plugging in the amps. He'd be lucky if his neighbors didn't call the cops on him tonight. He alternated between strumming the notes on his instrument and writing them down on paper and even singing the chorus:

_ But you don't work here anymore  
It's just a vacant 3 x 4 _

Frank stopped a moment. This song was written with a lot of pain. Frank tried not to think about that but he couldn't help but wonder who this beautiful song was about.  
Finally around 10 o'clock he finished the final version and he wondered if it was too late at night to call Gerard and play it for him. He couldn't wait for him to hear it. He thought sure he'd still be awake. Ten o'clock want too late, was it? Oh what the hell Frank thought and he got out his cellphone and started to dial Gerard's number. At the last minute he stopped and decide to send Him a text instead.

 

Frank typed out the message three times before he finally decided to send it. 

Hey, I got the song done. Can't wait for you to hear it. 

Frank had no sooner put his phone back in his pocket when his alert tone went off signaling that he had a text message. 

Can I come over now and hear it?

Wow. This really caught Frank off guard. He couldn't remember a time when Gerard had ever been at his house. Maybe with a group of guys from work but he couldn't remember. 

That's cool. You know where I live?

Yeah. Be there in 15

Okay, Frank thought. He was a little surprised yet excited actually. Without thinking he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and check his hair. "What the hell," he told his reflection in the mirror, "it's not like it's a date or something."

He was already at the door when ten knocks sounded and he hesitated a moment before opening the door so he wouldn’t appear too eager. 

"Hey," Gerard said.  
"Hey," Frank said. "Come in."

Gerard looked around Frank’s apartment at the pictures of musicians and old movie posters he had on the walls. 

"Nice place," Gerard said. 

"Thanks, man," Frank said and smiled. "So um. Come on in and let me show you what I put together. "

Frank say down on the floor and grabbed his guitar and started to play while Gerard remained standing, an almost hypnotic look on his face as he watched Frank’s fingers strum up and down the guitar strings. Without realizing it he began singing the words in perfect tune to the chords Frank was playing as Frank began singing in harmony with him. Their voices were beautiful together and for a moment they were lost in the music, overtaken by the waves of rhythm exerted from the combination of the guitar and their voices and they looked into each other’s eyes as they sang the last chorus out.

_ I think I'd love to die alone... _

Neither one of them knew how it happened, it was so quick but suddenly Gerard’s arms were around Frank, his guitar hanging between them, and their lips were locked together, their tongues in perfect rhythm with one another. Gerard’s right hand wrapped around Frank’s head with his dark brown curls intertwined in his fingers. Frank dropped his guitar carefully on the ground and wrapped his hands around Gerard's neck, returning his sweet kisses with more of his own.

 

Frank let out a soft moan as he felt Gerard break the kiss and begin softly sucking on his neck, starting near his left ear and slowly moving down to his shoulder. Frank could feel the excitement from his head all the way down to his toes as he started to breathe a little faster. It just felt so damn good to be touched like that, he didn't give a single thought to the fact that he was making out with another guy. Who was also his boss. 

Gerard continued to suck and run his tongue over Frank’s collarbone.

 

"Oh, fuck," Frank said, not realizing he had said it out loud. The pleasure was getting the best of him.

 

Gerard stopped suddenly and gave Frank a shocked look and stepped back to face him.  
"I'm... I'm sorry" he stuttered. "oh god," Gerard took two steps back, the look of shock on his face turning to almost a fearful expression.

 

"No don't go," Frank said. "Please?"  
"I have to go," Gerard said with a scared look on his face.  
"Hey, hey!" Frank voiced loudly. "I am completely okay with what just happened, alright?” 

 

"It felt... Right," Frank said, trying to find the right words.  
"But it's not right, Frank," Gerard said, still backing toward the door. "I'm your boss. This can't happen. I can't take advantage of you like that."

 

"Take advantage of me? What the hell is that supposed to mean. I'm 27 years old. A little past the age of consent, and last time I check the age of consent in Jersey was 14."  
"That’s not the point and you know it, Frank," Gerard said; a look of pity in his eyes. 

"Oh I see how you are," Frank stammered. "you come over here and we share this magic moment singing our song, have this awesome make out session and now you decide it was a huge mistake and you don't want me. I see how you are! Get out!" 

 

"and don't worry. I won't make a THING about it at work. It will be like nothing happened so you don't have to be embarrassed about it."  
Gerard looked hurt for a minute and turned around and opened the door. For just a minute he hesitated and Frank wanted to badly to just run to him and beg him to stay but he didn't want I appear pathetic. So he let Gerard walk away out his door.

 

It was hours before Frank could fall asleep that night. His thoughts were racing and he couldn't get Gerard out of his mind. For one, he had had no idea he liked guys that way. He had dates a few girls in college but he never had felt satisfied with the relationships. The sex was okay but he always felt like something was missing. It all made sense now. He thought about the times he'd admired Gerard these past few years. The funny way he walked kind of hunched over, Frank found very adorable. The way he smiled his crooked half-smile when Frank said something funny. 

The way he talked with his hands when he got all excited, Frank thought was cute. Then there was his hair. Frank was mesmerized by his hair, the way it always fell right into place even though it looked like he never combed it. And his eyes. Frank thought they were beautiful.

 

Finally Frank knew he wouldn't sleep so he got up and went into take a shower.  
He turned the water on as hot as he could stand and leaned against the wall, his left elbow supporting his weight as he continued to think about the evenings events. It all flashed before his eyes. The song, the beautiful way Gerard kissed him and the awkward exchange afterward. Frank’s mind wandered back to their kiss and his tongue began to tingle and he felt the electric shock of his desire awaken inside of him. He knew he shouldn't indulge in this fantasy after what had happened: it would only lead to more heartbreak, but his body wanted it so badly he couldn't help it. 

He wrapped his tattooed hand around his hard cock and began to slowly move it up and down, thinking, again about Gerard kissing him, sucking his neck and conjuring up a few fantasies of his own. Before he knew it he had shot his load all over the shower wall, and he finally felt relaxed enough to try and get some sleep.

 

Two hours rest wasn’t enough for Frank and when his alarm went off he hit the snooze button the first time in his life. An hour later after hitting it multiple times Frank jumped from his bed and began scrambling around the room searching for something to wear. He was dressed and out the door in less than ten minutes. 

 

He was hoping to get to his office before Gerard noticed he was late. But when he got to the parking lot, Gerard's car was not there. Frank was especially worried because in the five years Gerard had worked there he had never missed work.  
Fuck.  
Suddenly Frank was worried. Has he made it home okay? Was he sick? Frank couldn't stand it. He had to know.  
He used the back entrance to the building and made it unnoticed into his office but by ten o'clock he couldn't concentrate on his work. He got out his phone and fingered out a text message: 

 

_ You okay? _

 

Nothing. Frank nearly rubbed a hole in his pants getting his phone in and out of his pocket to check it. Finally around lunch time it buzzed.

 

_Sick_. 

_Dude you r never sick,_ Frank typed out trying to be casual

_Am now_. The reply came back almost immediately 

_Ok. Well let me know if I can do anything to help_.

Frank wanted to open up communication with him because he knew the longer they went without speaking, the more difficult the situation was going to be. Plus he suspected his absence had something to do with last night. As hurt as he was by Gerard’s rejection, he didn't want to lose him as a friend. 

 

His phone buzzed again. 

_ I will, thank you, Frank.  _

 

For the first time since Gerard had left last night frank felt hopeful. He had answered him and that was a step in the right direction. 

By two in the afternoon Frank still could not concentrate so he got the piece of paper out with Gerard's song that he had shoved into his pocket and began to read the words again. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. Didn't he used to sit two cubicles down from Gerard before the paper remodeled, giving them their own offices? 

And the tearing sound of love notes. When Frank didn’t like a story he had written he would often swear and tear the paper it was printed on into a million pieces and toss it into the trash and he could always hear Gerard laughing two cubes down. He thought about all the times they just happened to meet at the water cooler at the same time and Gerard would always tell him about a new cd or comic book he had just bought. It couldn't be about him, though could it? Because he still worked there and the song said " _you don't work here anymore_ " maybe Gerard wishes he didn't work there anymore. 

It was driving Frank crazy so he decided the there was only one thing he could do. He had to go see Gerard. 

He had only been to Gerard’s house once for a New Year’s Eve party but he remembered where he lived so he grabbed his keys, stuck the song back into his jacket pocket and jumped into his car and raced over to his apartment.

 

Frank was shaking as he walked up to Gerard's apartment door and he hesitated before he knocked three times.

  
"Who’s there?" Gerard yelled, his voice cracking slightly

 

"um. Hey," it's uh me. Frank," Frank answered. 

 

"Oh god Frank, go away, please," Gerard said. 

 

"No Gerard I am not going away. We need to talk," Frank said. He was going to hold his ground on this one. 

 

"There’s nothing to talk about, I made a mistake, ok? I fucked up," Gerard whined.  
Frank didn't know what else to say.  
"That song," Frank started. “I know now. You wrote that about me. " 

 

There was silence and Frank decided to give up and turn around and walk away in defeat. As soon as he did, though the door opened up behind him and frank felt a soft hand on his shoulder.  
"Please don't go"  
Shocked, Frank turned to face Gerard. 

 

"I did."

 

"What?" Frank asked confused. 

 

"The song. I did write it for you," Gerard said. "About you," Gerard corrected. And Frank smiled. 

 

Frank took a step forward and wrapped his arms tight around Gerard, burying his nose in Gerard's hair. Gerard embraced him back tightly. 

 

"You never have to worry about being alone again," Frank said. "we will figure things out"

 

Gerard ran his fingers through Frank’s soft hair and started to sing to him: " _we could be in the park and dancing by a tree_ "

 

" _kicking over blades we see_ ," Frank answered matching his melody.

 

" _or a dark beach with a black view_ ," they sang together, " _and pin pricks in the velvet catch out fall._ "

THE END


End file.
